1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and more particularly, to a compression contact electrical connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional compression contact electrical connector is known comprising an electrically insulative housing and a plurality of conducting terminals mounted in the electrically insulative housing. The electrically insulative housing has terminal slots. The conducting terminals are mounted in the terminal slots. China Patent No. 00217081 discloses an electrical connector of which the both ends are of compression contact type. According to this design, each conducting terminal has a positioning portion, and a contact portion at each of the two distal ends. China Patent No. 02254746 discloses an electrical connector, which has one end of compression contact type and the other end of bonding type. According to this design, each conducting terminal has a positioning portion, a contact portion at one end, and a bonding portion at the other end. In either of the aforesaid two conventional designs, each conducting terminal is stamped from a metal material in integrity. The contact portion of each conducting terminal may be plastically deformed when compressed and hit by an external object. When the contact portion is plastically deformed, it cannot return to its former shape, thereby loosening its resilience and becoming unable to contact the matching electronic member effectively. When this happens, the electrical connector cannot work normally.
Further, in order to obtain a certain resilient power, a conducting terminal may be made of a copper alloy, for example, phosphor bronze. Phosphor bronze is relatively cheap, however its conductivity is only about 20% IACS. Special copper alloy has a reasonable price, however its conductivity is about 40˜60% IACS that is still not optimum. Further, copper beryllium alloy has conductivity as high as about 80% IACS, however it is expensive. Red bronze has better conductivity, however its mechanical performance cannot satisfy the demand.
Further, China Patent No. 02293473 discloses an electrical connector that eliminates some drawbacks of the aforesaid various conventional designs. According to this design, the electrical connector comprises a metal shell, probes, and spring members respectively set between the metal shell and the probes. However, this design is still not satisfactory in function. The spring members may oscillate horizontally to touch the metal shell when received a pressure. The metal shell may be forced to oscillate the probes when received a pressure in horizontal direction, affecting the connection stability of the electrical connector.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an electrical connector that eliminates the aforesaid problem.